The Sliver doe
by darkoraclegirl
Summary: It been some time since the invasion yet Clint still thinks about that day. It's not the aliens or even Loki that he keeps thinking about. Nor the things he was made to do while under Loki's control. What Clint keeps thinking about is a single woman who saved his life then disappeared.


This was a request from niallsmyboo99. I was happy to do this as I have hit a very big wall with all my other stories, also my beta for "I'll die before I lose you again" is at the moment not answering my messages for some reason (most likely life is taking up a lot of their time). So hopefully this story will help me break free from that wall and get out more of my other stories. Please be honest with your thoughts as feed back is very helpful.

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><p>Clint tossed and turned on his bed as he tried to fall asleep. It was half past 2 in the morning and his mind was still denying him any rest. Lifting the collar of his shirt Clint stared down at the glowing hand print just to the left of his heart. He could still remember the pain from the wound that had once rested there. The way he had tried to push through it to keep fighting during the invasion, not wanting Loki to win but being forced back onto his back as fresh waves of pain slammed into him over and over again. And then she had appeared. A woman with tanned skin had rushed over to him, dodging the panicked people that were running for their lives. Her bright blue eyes locked onto his wound the moment she was knelling by his side, one hand digging out a crystal attached to a leather cord from under her shirt while the other hand brushed white bangs out of her eyes. He was about to order her to get to safety when she touched the crystal to his wound then removed it to place her hand on it. Clint had drawn in a sudden breath as he both saw some strange markings light up on her left arm with a gentle blue light and he could feel the wound on his chest sealing shut. When the wound was no longer there the woman stood and took off down the road along with everyone else. Clint had glanced down the moment her hand had moved away, catching site of a glowing hand print as it slowly faded away. By the time he had lifted his head to call after her, to find out just how she did that the woman had vanished.<p>

Clint had searched for her after that day. Even had Natasha help him search for her. But he never found her. So he had pushed the thought away. That wasn't to say he wasn't grateful towards her. Far from it. She had pretty much saved his life after he'd been shot by one of those aliens. He just figured that there was no point in continuing his search if he would never find her. So for a month he left what happened that day fall to the back of his mind and focused on his work for Shield. Until one night, while in Italy with Natasha she'd pointed out that something under his shirt was glowing. The two had slipped into an ally and Clint had all but ripped off his shirt, thinking something had been slipped under it when his guard had slip. What they found was a hand print glowing a gentle blue color. Right where Clint had been shot one month ago.

The two had finished up the mission the next day and Clint, once back at HQ had himself check out by the doctors. They ran every test they could, under his wishes but they found nothing out of place. Clint was completely healthy. Clint thought about telling the doctors about what happened to him, about the shot he'd taken, the woman and her crystal, and the glowing hand print. But Natasha warned him against it. The WSC had already been a big enough pain over Clint having been controlled by Loki. The last thing he needed was for them to learn that someone had used an unknown method to heal him and he now had a mark that glows. So instead of telling the doctors the two recorded anything that struck them as odd about Clint. However the only thing they found was that the mark only glowed on full moon nights. Clint really wished he'd stopped the woman from running away that day.

*.*

Kira swung her feet back and forth as she waited in the lobby of some random business. She hated job interviews. Having to dress up like some doll and try to sway someone into giving her work that she'll hate come a week after starting. But she needed the money. She had bills and rent coming up and she just had enough to cover them and a couple weeks worth of food. Still she knew she'd walk into the office and the person interviewing her would take one look at her white hair and raise a brow, thinking she'd bleached it that way and spend most of the interview looking between her eyes and her hair, trying not to ask about it.

Her phone buzzed in her bag, drawing her from her thoughts. When she saw her foster father's number she hit ignore and tossed it back in the bag. She didn't want to deal with him or his wife. He'd just ask her to come visit and make her feel guilty till she gave in. But then when she'd get there his wife would start talking trash about her until Kira would have to storm out to keep from laying a hand on the woman. And of course he would just stand there, or sit if he'd been drinking before hand and do nothing about it.

_What's the point of even trying? I spent enough time trying to get that witch to like me. If they want me they can come out here and see me themselves._ She thought bitterly.

A flash of her birth parents flickered across Kira's mind. Of her birth father sending her away. Kira never learned just why he sent her away. Just that he had and she'd never seen her family since. Pushing that memory back to it's corner. She couldn't think about that right now. Though God knew she'd thought on it a lot during the last 1,000 years of her life. Her hand absently reached up and toyed with her crystal, the one thing she had with her that was from her birth place. She didn't know much about her people, as she had been a child when she was sent away but she knew they had all worn crystals like her's and that the crystals granted long life and the power to heal wounds.

A smile lit up her face as she remembered a man she had helped with her crystal. He had been fighting the invading aliens with a bow and arrows when he'd taken a blast from one of their guns to the chest. She'd rushed over to him and quickly used the crystal on him. She hadn't paid much attention to him at the time but when the battle was over and the aliens dead she had seen him on the news. Alive and well. Kira had looked over his body a few times, while it was on screen liking the muscles of his arms, the way his hair was styled, and how he smiled at something Ironman had said to him.

_A fine looking guy, that's for sure. I wonder what happened to him._ After that day she'd not seen him again. Not on the news, not on the streets, it was like he had disappeared. But then again there were way too many people in the city for her to easily find one person in a crowd.

"Ms? He'll see you now." The Secretary had called from her desk.

Kira stood, straightening her skirt before walking into the office, a small smile on her face and folder containing all her paper work inside it in one hand.

*.*

Clint sighed as he tipped back his shot glass. It'd been a long day at Shield for him. Stark had gotten a hold of his number and begun text harassing him for fun. At first he'd enjoyed firing insults back and forth with him, trying to out due the other like a couple of children. But then the novelty had worn off and Clint had to turn off his phone to stop it from ringing all the time. Stark had even sent him a couple pictures that would forever haunt Clint's mind. To which Clint had gotten Pepper Potts number and forward the pictures to her. That got the text to stop quickly enough.

Clint glanced at his phone as it rang suddenly, before chuckling at the message.

**"****_This means war. I will get you back for ratting me out Birdbrain._****"**

Shaking his head Clint ordered another shot. He really didn't know what someone as orderly and controlled as Pepper saw in a guy like Stark. Hell he couldn't really see why Bruce and Stark were such good friends. Not to say he doesn't in some way like Stark. After all you couldn't stand two feet from the guy for more then a second if you didn't like some little thing about him. But Clint just knew that if he tried to stay in Stark's tower, be exposed to the guy just about every day. Well he would need a lot more vacation time then he's got owed to him. He quickly downed the fresh shot, enjoying the slight burn at the back of his throat.

_I hate drinking alone. Why did Nat have to ditch me for Rogers?_

It wasn't like Clint hadn't seen her attraction for the Captain. After all he knew his partner better then anyone. What had caught him off guard was how fast things had moved between the two. She'd been tasked after the invasion to watch over the Captain and to run missions with him, help the guy get use to modern day work in Shield. Though Clint wouldn't put it completely past the Director to have tried to get Natasha and Rogers together for fun. Well that's if Clint truly believed his boss had a sense of humor.

Turning his head to the large window next to the entrance Clint thought about what he should do next. Order another shot or find something better to do with his night.

That's when he caught sight of white hair. Eyes widening Clint looked more closely and saw it was the very woman he had searched for. Slapping some bills on the counter Clint dashed off of his stool and out the door after her. He wouldn't lose her twice.

"Hey!" He called as he caught up to the woman.

She turned to him and a smile broke out onto her face. "Oh hello."

"I um" Clint's brain halted in it's tracks. During the invasion he'd never gotten a really good look at her when the two had met. All he'd known about the woman was that she had tanned skin, blue eyes, long white hair, and a crystal that she'd healed him with. Looking at her now Clint noted she was very pretty and had a slim build.

"I'm Kira." She held her hand out to him, her smile growing. Kira couldn't believe her luck. She'd finally bumped into the guy she had helped a month ago. And he still looked as good as he did back then.

"Clint." He shook her hand then nodded to the bar he'd just come from. "Want to get a drink?"

"Sure." Kira was glad for the offer. Her foster father had kept calling and that wife of his hand the nerve to text her and telling her what a horrid child she is for ignoring her family. So Kira had been planning on drinking that night. She just wasn't thrilled about drinking alone.

*.*

"And then Brad comes running into the room just in time as the pillows explode, sending feathers everywhere. And the guy just came from his bath!" Kira laughed

Clint almost couldn't breath between laughs. Kira and him had fallen into a comfortable conversation during the first few rounds. Then she started telling stories from her college years. "I can't imagine he was happy."

Kira shook her head. "Not till he saw the photos we took of him."

Shaking his head Clint smiled at her. "And here I thought my school years were crazy." Taking out his phone Clint was a little annoyed to see Director Fury was calling him. "Sorry Kira, I have to take this." He then hit accept and held it to his ear. "Barton."

"Your needed. Be in my office in fifteen minutes." Was all his boss said before hanging up.

Clint shoved his phone back into his pocket.

"Everything alright Clint?" Kira had noticed the change in behavior and wondered just what the call had been about.

"That was work. Something's come up and they need me." He sighed as he took out his wallet.

"Oh. You can't play sick or something?"

Clint smiled at her. "Wish I could. But this isn't that kind of job." He tossed a few bills onto the table, enough to cover their drinks then nodded to the door. "Come on, I'll walk out with you if you want."

Kira pulled on her jacket and headed outside. "So, can I get your number or something? Just in case you get some time off."

Clint gave it a thought. In his line of work relationships weren't really a good idea. After all relationships needed work and for both people to be there, some level of honesty and trust. Clint also didn't want to put Kira in any danger. She was a nice girl who he could see himself with. But did she need his kind of complicated? Clint could almost hear Stark right then,

"_Are you really going to say no to that? Come on Birdbrain! Get a pen and give her what she wants._"

He had to hold back a chuckle at that thought. "Sure." Taking Kira's phone from her and giving her his phone the two traded numbers.

"Alright then. Don't worry though. I've not one of those girls that's gonna wait by the phone for days and when we happen to bump into each other again I'll attack you for not calling me and call you every name under the sun." She joked.

"Good to know, cause it might be a while before I can call you."

Kira nodded. "I don't know what you do but given that you were fighting aliens when we first met it's got to be huge. Just make sure to call me. Or text if you can. We can get drinks when you get done work." She then waved down a cab.

"Sounds like a plan. See you later Kira."

"See you later Clint." Kira then climbed into the cab, gave her address and waved bye as the cab pulled away from the curb.

Clint couldn't help the smile on his face as Natasha pulled up at the curb. When he climbed into the car she fixed him with a strange look.

"What's with the grin?" She asked as she pulled away from the curb and started driving them to the Shield base in the city.

"You remember that woman I've been looking for?" Natasha nodded. "I found her. Her name's Kira."

"Did you ask about the crystal?" Like Clint Natasha had figured they wouldn't find the woman that had helped Clint. Hearing that he had found her was good news, seeing as she did worry a little about that glowing hand print.

Clint sighed, the smile disappearing as he leaned back against the seat. "No. It slipped my mind." Know Natasha was about to get on his case about not getting such important information he quickly cut her off. "But I had her number. I figure get to know her a little more before questioning her about it. In case she with drawls from me if I ask about it too soon."

Natasha gave him a short look before letting it go. Even after what happened with Loki's mind control she trusted him to know when to back off. When he was in too deep and needed to let it go.

The rest of the ride passed in silence. Clint thinking about Kira and the enjoyable drinks they'd had together. Natasha going over the last mission she had gone on with Steve.


End file.
